Dear CNN: Lailat al-Qadr is not a ‘security risk’

Peace. That's what the Night of Destiny is to over a billion Muslims. PHOTO: INP

I was putting my shoes on, leaving for my evening prayers, when my phone buzzed with a text:

“Saw a CNN byline linking ‘Night of Power’ to the recent terror alert. Talk of sensationalism.”

You know how it goes. The story was largely accurate – prompted by
fears of a terrorist attack, in an unprecedented move on Sunday; the US closed 21 embassies across the Middle East and North Africa. Add a strategically implanted – and inaccurate -analysis by CNN’s
Peter Bergen, who alleged that Sunday was the “Night of Destiny”,
making it an auspicious occasion for al-Qaeda extremists to die.
Social media dies for such sensationalism and the story started
getting Facebook likes by the minute. It reminded me of Mark Twain, who
famously said,

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”

If Twain is true, then time is not on my side. So let me get to the
point: I won’t call it a “lie”, but such biased reports are good
examples of bad journalism. And they travel fast.
At 8:32pm, August 2, 2013, the media published the US state department’s alert. By 10:15am the next day, CNN’s political analyst Peter Bergen had already repackaged his previously held belief as a fresh column titled, “What’s behind timing of terror threat,” linking the threat to the Muslim “Night of Power.” By 11:33pm, BBC was regurgitating Mr Bergen theory -which received no credence in the original alert - halfway around the world.
There are multiple reasons why Mr Bergen’s theory, despite being copy-and-pasted ad nauseam - received no credence from the US state department.
First, all three originally published translations of the Quran –
Muhammad Ali (1917), Muhammad Pickthal (1930), and Abdullah Yousaf Ali
(1934) – use different expressions for the Arabic phrase, “ Lailat
al-Qadr” which appears in the 97th chapter of the Quran.
Ali translated it as the “Night of Destiny” while
Yousaf Ali preferred to call it the “Night of Power.” Pickthall used
both terms. One wonders if “Night of power” was just as randomly
selected by the media as a young Muslim man gets randomly pulled for
extra security on airports.
Second, there is no data to support this myth. Yes, Mr Bergen cites a
list of terror attacks on US embassies, but he conveniently forgets:
none of those attacks were launched on the “Night of Destiny” – as I
would like to call it from here on. He offers a correlation, not
causation.
Third, no one knows the exact date of the night of destiny, which,
according to the Muslim belief, could fall on any of the odd nights
during the last ten days of Ramadan. Mathematically, there is a 60%
chance that it had already passed by the time state department issued
the alert.
Fourth, it’s obvious that Mr Bergen has no idea what the night of
destiny really is. The answer was right there, only if he had read the
97th chapter of the Holy Quran, comprising of a mere 57 words in English,(where God says, “(The night is) peace until the rising of the dawn.”)
Peace. That’s what the night of destiny is to over a billion Muslims.
Which is not to say that extremists aren’t dying to hurt oversees
Americans. They are. And they will use every potential means to recruit
more disillusioned Muslim youth. Slipping in a decade old myth as part
of a major news story at a time when the memory of Benghazi is still
fresh, is not only disingenuous, but also dangerous. al-Qaeda must be
thankful to CNN for running a free, front page recruitment ad.
A dozen years of facing such post-911 sensationalism has taught the
American Muslim community to put on its shoes quickly. And we have
become so adept at myth busting that every chase allows us to remove
other, unrelated, inaccuracies from our public discourse.
For example, while researching for this article, I discovered that
Mark Twain had never made the comment mentioned above. Turns out the
witty quote, attributed to a legendary American writer, was also just a lie.

Firstly, let me explain that genocide
isn’t claimed by the Shias because it’s the fab trend these days, just
in case someone was confused between gadget hype and reality.
Second, genocide isn’t an award or laureate we’d all like to place in
a glass showcase. It is the epitome of inhumanity which rages on caused
by the efficient inaction by governments (both past and present)
fuelled by the desire to not intervene because it is ‘somebody else’s
war’, or because it is exactly what they secretly sanctioned.
The United Nations defined genocide in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) as:

”Any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious
group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or
mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the
group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part [...]“.

Shia genocide isn’t just a term. It means that for decades, you watch
your friends and family watch those they love be sprayed with bullets,
butchered, set fire to and be slain. It means that a singer’s death will
get an immediate response from the president, his son, and the prime
minister; their family will be offered condolences but yours won’t. It
means that your dead are unworthy of even that gesture unless you refuse
to bury your dead for over four days. It means that a little girl gets
to sit in the sleet with her father. It means that a mother will die at
the grave of her son, when he is finally buried and she is consumed
whole by grief. It means that when whatever shreds of family that is
left gathers to commemorate their martyrs on the fortieth day, they too
must die.
Sometimes, it is because of the marks on their backs, sometimes because of their features, mostly though it is because of their faith.
It means orphans further orphaning their children. It means there
will be screams, crying, nightmares and hugging. It means having the
audacity to reign the youth that wants to take some action; that wants
permission to reply to the enemy in the same manner and reasoning with
them. It is about silencing the last window of hope left; it means there
will be no justice now or ever. Lastly, it means that it is okay
because we have to learn to let it go.
It means taking one life away and leaving a few hundred near death.
But despite this explanation, you might just be a numbers man. So
I’ve compiled in a concise and easy to read form of data from 2012 -2013
of Shia deaths, from target killings to horrific acts like Chilas.
Please note: names, ages and relationships which may be inconvenient
and cumbersome for your scornful eyes to read through have been omitted.
I hope you have the stamina to read the answer to why it is a
#ShiaGenocide. And if you do have the courage, try to remember every
date you just casually glanced over; that particular date is a death
anniversary for a family. Many of whom may not have even reached that
first anniversary mark yet.
__________________________________________________________2012:

A youngster shifts his valuables to a safer place as floodwater enters Budhani area near Peshawar. PHOTO: APP/ FILE

This Saturday
seemed like any other ordinary day to me and I continued my day as
usual; the sky was not very clear, but I never anticipated the havoc
that was to soon come my way.
The weather forecast stated that some areas in Karachi were in for
heavy rainfall. Since I am a Pakistani, however, I conveniently chose to
dismiss what I heard on the news and decided to manage my day just as
any other; I drove out with my mother for her routine dialysis.
After almost four hours, I was welcomed by all that I was warned
about early in the day; lightening, thunder, rain and water –
everywhere! On my way back from Saddar and onto the main Clifton road, I
was extremely stressed with the massive traffic jam and the rising
flood of dirty stagnant water. At this point, I wondered to myself
whether this was the same road I had crossed a couple of hours ago.
Decorated shopping malls were strewn in garbage gushing forth with
the water and polished cars were seen floating about idly in the water.
All I wanted in that almost suicidal slow pace that the traffic was
moving at was a boat ride home.

Residents stand near a partially submerged vehicle as they evacuate a flooded area in Karachi on August 4, 2013. PHOTO: AFP

While I was consoling my mother who was beginning to get anxious
seeing the chaos that surrounded us on the road, in the near distance I
could hear a siren blaring continuously. There was an ambulance stuck in
jam and it appeared that the only one bothered by the deafening sound
of its siren and horn was me.
No one else seemed to be care to make way for it. Being an emergency
doctor, I seemed to hear the siren louder than anyone else, perhaps
because I hear it every day and understand the alarming nature of such a
call. My mind wandered to the patient inside the ambulance and how
critical the situation may have been for him. After raking my mind
continuously as to how I could help him, I found no way and ended up
saying a prayer for whoever the person was.

View of a flooded street in Peshawar. PHOTO: @haroonbadshah94

As a health manager, I had also equipped my emergency room with
supplies to combat viral fever, protozoan’s, nematodes, blood flukes,
malaria and stomach flu. These were all the effects of water logging and stagnation which we were to inadvertently face after the downpour.
I smiled to myself sarcastically when I thought of the number of
Dettol and Safeguards hand washing advertisements that are so popular;
no matter how much training we conduct in the community for health
safety and hygiene, if the sanitation and drainage systems are not
adequate, no outcomes will be seen.
What I narrated to you right now is not the story of a dingy, dirty,
unequipped slum in the city; I was not in Ibrahim Goth or Machar Colony.
I was in the well developed ‘posh’ area of Defence Phase IV.

Men push their bicycles through flood waters on the outskirts of Karachi August 4, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS

I was bitter as I stared at the muddy slush around me. What bothered
me to no end was the fact that ever since I can remember, I have seen my
parents footing their taxes religiously and on time for the ‘able’
authorities to manage. This tax includes, water tax, property tax,
drainage tax, electricity tax and so on.
As tax-paying residents of the country, I want to know where our
money has been going if the local government can’t even handle one day
of rain.
The monsoons have always been a cause of chaos, disease and many other problems for Pakistan. Yet, this season comes every single year and every single year we go through the same mess.
The situation of Saadi Town and people in the surrounding areas
affected by the torrential rains desperately awaiting some form of help
or aid shows the intensity of our pathetic situation. The rains
impacted the city so critically that even today, on Monday, the
aftermath is still being seen. The severe flooding in Korangi not only
rendered many people homeless, but will also cost the city a tremendous
amount in infrastructure rebuilding. Main roads were blocked causing
chaotic traffic jams and this time around, only God knows how many
ambulances must have gotten stuck and how many people must have died as a
result of this hardship.

It is a moment of shame that all the authorities, ministries and
politicians should reflect upon. These people make myopic policies that
may have been made with good intentions, but are just not strong enough
to face emergency situations like floods. The WatSan (Water Sanitation)
sector of Pakistan
needs to become proactive and make sanitation its top priority. This is
necessary not only to improve the quality of life of the people of the
city but to ensure that there will be no outbreaks of water related
diseases.
We need to learn how to prepare beforehand or else we will always be part of the ‘modern slum’ in the world.
Look at what just a day of rain has down to the metropolis of Karachi.
Shame on the authorities in charge.